Embodiments described herein relate generally to voice and data communications and more particularly to apparatus and methods for multi-mode asynchronous communications.
In today's society, advances in technology allow individuals to use multiple modes of communication from a home or office and while on the go. Individuals can communicate using voice, text messaging, instant message, email, or the like. Accordingly, infrastructure exists to support these modes of communication; yet, the infrastructure is often designed to support an uninterrupted conversation through a single mode of communication. Thus, it is difficult to have a unified multi-mode communication that spans a series of interactions that might be required to complete a transaction.
In addition, the advances in technology have enabled some individuals to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. As a result, a cultural shift has begun toward a more fast paced, efficient, and user controlled customer self-service. However, many enterprises offer a customer service system that is inadequate, unreliable, synchronous, and/or not sufficiently customer friendly. For example, in some instances an individual may be interrupted while in the progress of interacting with a customer support organization or system (e.g., an interactive voice response (IVR) system) by other obligations, thereby negating the value of at least a portion of the progress made. Furthermore, most customer service systems require a single mode of communication be used to fully complete a specific task.
Thus, a need exists for improved methods of multi-mode asynchronous communication.